UPDATE 1-U.S. EPA senior official not certain climate change is a crisis

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency assistant administrator for air and radiation, Bill Wehrum, said on Friday that he is still exploring the science of climate change and is not convinced that it is a crisis. The comments come as the administration of President Donald Trump draws fire from Democrats and environmental activists for rolling back Obama-era climate regulations and announcing its intention to withdraw the United States from an international accord to fight global warming.

Trump's critics say the EPA should be protecting the United States from the effects of global warming. "I’ve had a series of briefings with climate change experts to help me better understand this," he said at a public event in Washington. "Everybody is still exploring the climate change science."

Asked if he believes climate change is a crisis, he responded, “I’m trying to figure that out.” He said he fully supported the agency's move to rescind President Barack Obama's centerpiece climate change regulation - the Clean Power Plan aimed at limiting carbon emissions from power plants - and replacing it with another rule that places much of the power to regulate carbon into the hands of states.

"It is important to understand the facts and science correctly and important to understand our overarching mission to protect the public," he said. "I feel like I'm doing really good at what I do." (Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk; Writing by Richard Valdmanis; Editing by Leslie Adler and James Dalgleish)